


Lost in the Woods

by lmontyy



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fights, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Character, Love, So they fight, TLOU, The Last of Us - Freeform, Useless Lesbians, and then dina fixes her, ellie and dina really care for each other, ellie runs away, the last of us 2, the last of us part 2 - Freeform, the last of us part ii, the last of us part two, thus resolving their fight, tlou 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 05:24:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21156329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmontyy/pseuds/lmontyy
Summary: Dina and Ellie get into their first big fight. Ellie goes off at an early hour alone. She doesn't come back. Dina's an utter disaster.





	Lost in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: Graphic Violence!

Ellie liked to keep to herself. That was the long and the short of it. She found every reason not to disclose things with people. And while she trusted Dina more than any other person aside from Joel, there with some things she didn’t tell her, either.

One of those things was any time she was suffering an injury. Dina worked in the clinic, where all the sick and injured members of the community, guards, or patrollers went when they fell ill or hurt. More often than not, it was patrollers that ended up in there more than anyone. The world around them was ruthless, and every time they stumbled past the walls of Jackson, they proved to the community members again and again just how cruel and unforgiving that world was out there.

While Ellie frequented the patrols, and it was very rare that she opted out when she was scheduled to go out. She’d been going on the patrols for well over a year, and she’d received her fair share of injuries from the world outside. There were plenty of times that she came home battered and bruised, and those times she either downplayed the extent of her injuries, didn’t tell anyone about them, or just got them patched up and kept her mouth shut about it.

With Dina working in the med clinic, it was fair to say she definitely hated that.

And on a day like that one, she found herself stumbling home behind two other community members, Nate and Fiona. The couple and Ellie had gone out to do a quick sweep through the forest, but accidentally fell right into a cult camp, which resulted in all of them getting banged up pretty good.

When they arrived back to Jackson, young helpers and people working the gates ran forward to take their stuff from them, assisting them in walking and finding their way to the med clinic. When a young girl tried to help Ellie by offering to take her things and walk her, Ellie simply smiled and shook her head no. She assured her she was just fine on her own, and she just wanted to get home. Reluctantly, the girl understood and let her be.

It took her no more than ten minutes to find her way to her and Dina’s little home in the back end of the settlement. It was a quaint little house, just like all the others, but it was home.

Walking through the door and closing it with a relieving sigh, she let herself fall back against the door to recuperate. She was hurting all over, but she swallowed any sign of it. The house, she realized, was empty. With it being the evening, she figured that Dina was still at her shift at the clinic, due to get off within the next hour or so. The purple-orange sky lit the house in a calming pastel ombré, and everything just seemed to be still, the air peaceful around her. Everything looked and smelled like home.

As much as she wanted to sit back and admire the beautiful little house, she had her own business to attend to. She made her way up the stairs and into the bathroom, turning to the full-length mirror on the shower door. Removing her flannel and her shirt, she was able to see exactly where she needed to patch herself up.

Across her abdomen was a light laceration, about the length of a nicely-sized pistol. Just on her ribs was a large bruise from where she’d been kicked. Pressing down lightly and wincing, she felt at the bone. Everything seemed to be intact, just badly bruised. On her left shoulder was a piercing hole, completely drowned in dried blood. She’d hardly processed the arrow coming at her full speed until it was inches deep into her shoulder. Luckily, it hadn’t hit any bone or artery, and it wasn’t that deep, anyway.

Turning the valve on the sink and hearing the water pour it, Ellie reached up into the cabinet above, opening it and grabbing the gauze pads and disinfectant Dina kept on the bottom shelf. The gauzes were neatly tucked away in a ziplock bag, while the brown disinfectant bottle sat right beside it. Placing them on the counter and opening the valve to the disinfectant, the potent smell made her nose wrinkle with disgust. She quickly took out a few 4x4 gauze pads, and two folded linen cloths labeled “cravats”. They were large triangular bandages, and she’d seen Dina use them in slings, splints, and to hold down gauze on a wound.

Before she could take another step in her mediocre first aid, the door to the house slammed open. She heard the door hit the wall and slam shut, and a bag drop to the floor. The only thing she heard after that were the pounding of footsteps racing through the house and up the stairs.

In a matter of seconds, Dina was in the doorframe, panting and sweating, staring at her in utter distress.

“Oh, my God…” she said through a strong exhale. “Ellie…” She stared at the girl’s abused body in disbelief and despair.

No other words were said, she immediately rushed forward and started examining the lacerations, the bruises, and the arrow shot. Ellie’s face was covered in dirt but had minimal injuries. Immediately she pulled medical tape from the top shelf, and pulled open a gauze pad. The shorter girl got to a knee, let some of the disinfectant drip onto the pad, and hastily pressed it against the larger laceration across her abdomen. Ellie grabbed the edge of the counter, wincing and groaning in pain.

“Shut up,” Dina’s demanded in the most cold and unforgiving voice. Despite her anger, Ellie could see the worry working behind her troubled eyes as she continued to patch the taller girl up.

Dina taped down the gauzes on both lacerations on her body, and pressed hard into the bruised area of Ellie’s ribs, prompting a sharp inhale and a painful wince from the girl. When she determined there was nothing wrong, she moved up to the arrow shot wound, her face scrunching just so slightly to see such a terrible wound on Ellie’s body. Pulling a sterilized dressing from the shelf, along with a sterile gauze pad from the baggy, she gently placed it against the wound, removed it, and then taped down the dressing. 

Taking a rag and running it under the water, Dina quickly scrubbed the dirt and grime off her face – catching her off guard – wiping the dried blood stuck to her skin off with it. 

By the end of it, she looked much better. Aside from the wound in her shoulder, her other injuries weren’t nearly as bad. After washing them down and covering them like Dina did, the worst of it was wiped off with the blood. 

Ellie helped wash the rags off and clean up all the wrappers from the floor and counter, washing down the counter with a clean towel.

“Why didn’t you come to the fucking clinic?” Dina’s growl from behind her took her by surprise, and she turned to see Dina’s frustrated face staring daggers into it.

Sighing, Ellie leaned back against the counter. “I’m okay.”

“I saw the injuries on Nate and Fiona,” Dina’s voice cracked ever so slightly, but Ellie picked up on it. “Do you know what I thought when I saw them? Do you know what I thought knowing you were on a patrol with them? When they told me you’d come back here, I sprinted out of my own job, just for you. I had to come see you, I had to make sure you were okay. I was terrified that when I came home you would be half-dead, Ellie.” 

The raw emotion in her raised voice shook Ellie to her core. She had no response for her – there was literally nothing she could say.

“Do you know how tired I am of that?” Her voice raised even more. “Do you know how tired I am of having to hurry home and take care of you because you won’t just let others help. You don’t take care of yourself and you barely let anyone else take care of you.”

“I do take care of myself,” Ellie argued, but there was no confidence, no justification in her words.

“And Hell is cold,” Dina retorted sarcastically. “I don’t understand why you can’t just come to the clinic and get patched up. One of these days, I’m going to be out on patrol or working an overnight shift or gone and you’re going to come home and die from infection, or you’re just gonna fucking bleed out.” Ellie noticed the tears forming at Dina’s eyes, sobs and gasps threatening to release, but she fought them off and continued. “I lose sleep at night over it. If you don’t allow yourself to be taken care of now, you’ll never take care of yourself, or anyone else, for that matter.”

Ellie grimaced. “I’m not a baby, Dina, I can take care of myself–”

“Yeah, but you don’t! Because if you gave enough of a shit about yourself, you’d…–” Dina shoved Ellie back in frustration, hesitating in her words. “–You’d fucking swallow that ego of yours for ten seconds and get yourself taken care of by people who know what they’re doing.”

“Dina,” Ellie sighed in exasperation. She didn’t want to argue, but her pride was reaching out of the back of her throat. “I’ve been doing fine all these years. Believe me, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t believe you,” Dina said through a breath. “I don’t believe you at all. As strong as you are, Ellie, strength only lasts so long. You’ll tire yourself out eventually, I don’t care how strong you are.”

Ellie’s stubbornness reared its ugly head. “Yeah, well, I won’t.”

Scoffing in disbelief, Dina stared at her disapprovingly, mouth hanging open, before storming out of the bathroom. Ellie threw her arm out to catch her sleeve and stop her, but to no avail. She quickly followed her down the steps instead.

It was when they reached the kitchen that Dina turned and really snapped.

“I have fucking nightmares that one day you’re gonna go past that wall and never come back,” She couldn’t suppress the tears anymore. “I have nightmares that one day I’m gonna come home and find you dead on the bathroom floor. All because your fucking stubborn ass insists on staying here instead of getting medical treatment. Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

“I didn’t even know it was happening!” Ellie defended. “I never knew about your nightmares.”

“Even now that you know, I’m willing to bet my life that you still wouldn’t come to the clinic.”

“You really think I do it because I’m trying to hurt you?” Ellie contended. “That’s stupid to think, Dina, and you know that.”

“Is it, though?” Dina narrowed her eyes at her, cocking her head. “Because it sure as hell seems like it.”

“Not everything’s about you, you know,” Ellie shot back. “This isn’t a direct attack or something against you. It’s literally just an anxiety thing for me, that’s all.”

Clearly taking offense to Ellie’s comment, Dina inhaled angrily, and turned away, storming for the stairs again. Before she made it up there, she turned and faced Ellie once more.

“If it’s not all about me, it’s not all about you, either. Some people want the best for you and some people would be fucking lost without you. So, maybe, instead of the world revolving around your comfort, maybe it should revolve around everyone else’s, too.”

Ellie’s head dropped, her eyes fixed on the floor with a sigh. She heard the stomping of Dina’s feet against the wooden stairs, heading straight to the bedroom, and with a final slam of the door, it was quiet. Ellie sighed again, in complete defeat.

Immediate guilt set in. Anger and hatred towards herself and the world around her set in. She’d never seen Dina that upset over anything.

Setting a bowl of cereal down at the small table, she sat in the devastating silence. What was a peaceful, lightening aroma became a heavy, murky one. The only sound she heard as she crunched her cereal was the light drizzle hitting the window from outside. The wind blew just enough to hear it hitting the rafters.

After scooping the last bit into her mouth and placing the bowl in the sink to rinse, she started up the stairs and to the bedroom where Dina had stormed off to shortly before. Opening the door as lightly as possible, she peeked her head into the dark room. Dina was tucked away under the covers, facing the window on the opposite side of the door. Ellie’s face fell, but nonetheless, she changed her clothes into a long-sleeved shirt and long flannel pants.

Crawling into bed, she fit her way underneath the covers. Ellie could tell Dina wasn’t asleep – whenever Dina slept, her breaths were heavy and her body rose and fell in a specific pattern Ellie had memorized by that point. Every part of her yearned to reach out and hold her, but she knew that wasn’t smart, not now.

Anger and hatred, guilt, sorrow. She knew it was only a stupid fight, but her words rang in her head like the old church bells from Boston. She was hurting Dina and it seemed like she didn’t even care.

Despite all of the hatred she felt for herself, the turmoil she found her mind in, she eventually slipped away into sleep, hand outstretched towards Dina, hoping that maybe she would see it and take it.

She never did.

•••

Something woke Dina up, and it wasn’t the sun or birds chirping. She woke up with a terrible pit in her stomach. It only took a few seconds to remember the fight from the night before between her and Ellie. It hit her in the gut like a hard punch. Almost instinctively, Dina threw her arm out to feel the space beside her.

She felt nothing.

Sitting up in a flash, she looked to her side, and she saw nothing but tossed covers. There was no sign of Ellie. Listening out, the house was hauntingly quiet.

Moving the covers aside and stepping out of the bed, her heart began to race as she started out the bedroom door. Catching the time from a small clock on the wall adjacent to the door, she saw that it was 9:15. Stepping out into the hallway, her first step was the door to her right. A quick peek into the bathroom, and there was still no sign of Ellie. The hallway was completely vacant, and Dina ran down it, going right for the stairs.

Ellie didn’t have a shift scheduled for today, she knew that. Ellie always told her her schedule way ahead of time, as soon as she found out. Whenever she didn’t have a shift, she slept in late as ever.

Running into the kitchen, she frantically scanned the entire room. It was completely empty. Dina leaned back against the counter, gripping her stomach that was flipping around in her abdomen. She couldn’t even understand why – Ellie was probably fine. Probably. Probably wasn’t good enough. 

She ran her hand up her forehead, pushing the small hairs that sat lightly just above her forehead up farther. Her hand became moist, and she realized that the dripping down her back had just been sweat that was profusely coming to the surface of her skin.

“Ellie?” she called out, hopelessly. As she expected, there was no answer. She was alone in the house. The only trace of Ellie was a bowl left in the sink to soak overnight. 

An idea surfaced, and as if her legs were moving on their own, she headed for the door. Ellie’s bag and coat were both gone. Her boots were nowhere to be found. Dina didn’t even bother waiting. She just slid her boots on and threw her arms through the arms of the coat, and started out the door. 

The morning air pressed a chill to her face, setting her cheeks to ice. Everything around her was a blur as she raced for the gates and the storage houses and tents lined up along the wall. If Ellie was anywhere, she’d be there. 

Reaching the wall in the shortest amount of time she’d ever gotten there before, she immediately saw Tommy with a pair of binoculars on one of the watch towers. Opening the door and sprinting up the stairs, she eventually reached the top with a hard sigh, bending over from her adrenaline rush – which had pushed her body to its limits.

Tommy jumped when the door slammed open, and he turned to face her.

“Dina?” He sighed in relief. “What the hell are you doin’?” 

“Tommy,” she said through heavy breaths. “Have you seen Ellie? I can’t find her anywhere. I… She wasn’t at home, and I… I don’t know, I literally just can’t find her anywhere, do you know where she went?” She asked after stabilizing herself.

Tommy’s eyes fell to the ground. Looking back at her honestly, his eyes full of defeat.

“She went beyond the wall really early this mornin’,” he told her sorrowfully. “She took a horse and ran off. There are a bunch of patrols on lookout for her right now.”

Dina’s heart dropped to her feet, her stomach vaporized.

“Wh…” Words stopped in her throat, and her breath trapped in her lungs. “What do you mean she went beyond the wall?” The immediate panic was inevitable. Her eyes turned to the frosted woods ahead, where they sat still and quiet and ominous.

“This mornin’, ‘bout 4 am,” Tommy explained. “She came to the gates askin’ if she could go alone. Now, I discouraged her. I told her it was a mighty stupid idea, but you already know how she is. That kid has more determination than this entire community. She insisted on goin’, and promised she would only be a few hours. Promised she’d send out a flare every once and a while. Well, it’s been a few hours. I haven’t seen a single one since.”

Dina wanted to throw up. Her stomach was so far into the ground that it was unreachable.

“That’s why I sent them patrols out,” He continued. “They’re searchin’ the whole forest. Ellie don’t ever do this shit. Somethin’ had to happen.” Turning his body around his chair and pulling from in front of him a backpack. It was Ellie’s. Part of it was stained red. “A patrol found this. And now, they’re all lookin’ all over for her.”

She had to lean against the railing to keep herself from falling over. The world was crashing down on her. But Tommy was right – any time she went outside the wall for whatever personal reason she had, she always returned within a few hours and sent off a flare to alert where she was. 

The community had adapted a flare color system. They had found plenty of flares and flare kits in a factory about an hour away on horseback, as they continued to explore the area around them. Red was the most prominent – meaning danger. For the most part, they were fairly silent. The only plus to the situation was that a red flare wasn’t fired. But no flare whatsoever was somehow even more frightening.

“Well, has the patrol found anything?” The fear couldn’t be hidden in her voice.

“Besides the bag? Just a couple of bodies. Looks like the cult,” Tommy shook his head with dejection. “I’m sorry, Dina.”

Dina barely rendered his apology. “I have a shift at the clinic all day today. Is there any way I can go out and look?”

“And what if she comes back and you’re out in the cold?” He suggested. “It ain’t worth it. We got our regular patrols running in and out, and we have sick and injured that need takin’ care of.” Standing up, he walked forward and placed a big hand against her shoulder. She looked up helplessly into his concerned eyes. “I’m sorry, Dina, I know you’re worried for her. We’re gonna do everything we can to find her.”

“Does Joel know?” Dina asked suddenly.

“Not yet,” Tommy admitted. “He’s been out on his regular patrol since six.”

That was all Dina could manage. The shock had kicked in so much that it was hard to speak. She didn’t know what to do, what to say. She had her shift in an hour, and she couldn’t leave Jackson. Tommy was right – what if she randomly came back, and she was out in the dangerous cold still searching? 

With a sigh, she turned for the door. She felt Tommy’s eyes glued to the back of her head. Cold air that had been biting at her skin only just started to hurt again. It was like she had lost all feeling in her body. Numb, she opened the door with a dreadful silence.

“I’ll let you know immediately if anything happens,” the promising voice from behind her spoke in a way that was so gentle, it was heartbreaking.

Dina closed the door behind her, resting her whole body against the metal door. She thought she was going to pass out. Going through the day knowing all of that was happening was going to be next to impossible. The fact that she would have to sit there and help person after person after person, knowing Ellie was lost, or taken, or worse; it was going to make her sick all day. Instead of helping the girl she loved, she was helping other people.

She had no choice; she had to swallow her worry, her fear, her pride, and she had to do whatever she needed to do to work, and get the day done. As hard as it would be, she had to forget that she didn’t know if Ellie was alive or dead. She had to forget that Ellie could’ve been shot and killed. She had to forget that Ellie could’ve been getting tortured. Where had the blood come from? Was it hers? She literally didn’t know.

Finally coming to her senses, Dina began to walk off back to the house to get ready for her shift at the clinic. When she reached the house after two minutes or so, she opened the door, stepped in, and shut it. The house was absolutely, frighteningly quiet. Glancing over at the wall beside the door that had all of their coats and shoes underneath it, she saw the familiar green flannel hanging from the second hook.

It was only until Dina unhooked the flannel and put it up to her face, taking in the scent of her, that she fell to the floor, bawling, pressing it as hard as she could into her face like smelling it and crying into it would magically bring Ellie back.

It didn’t.

•••

The air was bitter when Ellie woke up, facing the ceiling, the covers tucked messily around her. As her eyes adjusted to the very early morning light, she could make out the shape of Dina next to her, her dark shape contrasting the soft moonlight pouring in through the window. Eventually, she was able to see all of her. 

Her face was so peaceful in the dim, milky light. Her freckles sat so neatly all over. Those beautiful lips were parted ever so slightly, showing the tips of a perfect row of teeth. Ellie could feel herself slipping deeper into that familiar haze.

She felt herself falling in love with Dina all over again.

But despite the overwhelming love she felt for the girl asleep beside her, the hate and anger still burned in the pit of her stomach. She felt nothing but failure crash on her like a wave during the moon’s highest point in the night. Insufficiency crowded her thoughts, the utter uselessness she felt was eating her alive. 

Pressing a soft kiss to Dina’s lips, Ellie sat up in the warm bed. Dina stirred, and suddenly those gorgeous, dark eyes were cracked open.

“Ellie…” She whispered. “Are you okay?”

The drowsy whisper nearly broke her heart in two. Despite their fight, Dina’s subconscious mind was only fixated on her and her well-being. It was enough to make her feel the urge to cry.

“Yes, love, I’m okay,” Ellie hushed, leaning down to press another kiss to her, this time to her forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

Dina hummed and turned her body completely towards her, closing her eyes again, and falling right back asleep in just seconds. She would probably wake up and still feel that anger towards her – she probably wouldn’t remember their brief interaction. Ellie was okay with that.

She didn’t even bother to stop anywhere, not even the bathroom. Her target was the door, and her goal was the Jackson gates. She simply changed into a long-sleeve shirt and jeans, and headed right for the door. At the door, she grabbed her coat and gloves, threw on her boots and her backpack, equipping her knife to her belt, as well as a holster for a pistol. That was all she needed before starting out the door and heading for the gates.

Jackson was incredibly peaceful at night. The entire community slept – save for the overnight shift workers. A few string lights stayed on, spread out through the streets, giving the entire settlement the perfect amount of white, tranquil light. The ground below her had a light coating of frost and snow, but the salt clashing against the pavement and dirt kept the snow from settling too much. Everything else, such as houses, gardens and lawns, fences, lamp posts – they were covered in nearly two light inches of snow. There were no heavy storms this early in the winter. 

It took maybe three minutes to get there, where she was met with familiar community faces, the most prominent being Tommy. Before approaching them, she headed for the musty storage den, where she took her assigned rifle, as well as her favorite pistol.

“Ellie?” Tommy’s voice came from behind her immediately after she left the garage. “What are you doin’ out here?”

“I’m going out for a little while,” she told him simply, throwing the rifle around her.

“Goin’ out?” He asked for clarification. “Goin’ out for what?”

She provided no true explanation. “Just to hunt, clear my head a little.”

Tommy stared at her, trying to read into her as much as he could. She just gave him a wide-eyed look of confusion back, and finally, he gave in.

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea,” he cautioned. “Joel would freak out.”

That anger burned at the back of her mind like a bonfire again. “I’m not a kid anymore. I can handle myself. He doesn’t have to like it.” She shrugged. “Don’t tell me you’re really scared of what he has to say?”

“Oh, I am,” Tommy shot back lightheartedly. “Look, El, I trust you. I know you’re good out there on your own. But I don’t wanna see any bad come by you. It’s dark as hell out here. It’s not safe to go out there alone.”

“Believe me, Tommy,” she assured. “I’ll be just fine.” She began walking past him and towards the gate.

“Are you takin’ a horse, at least?” He asked after her.

She turned and gave him a confused look. “What for? I won’t be long. I took some flares with me. I’ll keep you updated.”

With a sigh of nervousness, Tommy, placed his hands on his waist. “You’re one of the dumbest smart people I know, kiddo. This is a stupid idea.”

“I’ll be just fine,” Ellie reassured with a roll of her eyes, still going off towards the gates.

He was silent for a second. “Alright, just be careful a’ight?”

“I will!” She called back, taking off quicker towards the large metal gates controlled by the gatekeepers sitting atop nests on both sides of the gate. She signaled to the figure up there with a thumbs up. The figure returned the gesture and hit the lever on the gate. With a ground shaking move, the gates came inward, and the cold, unrelenting world opened in front of her.

Waving to whoever had opened the gate in thanks, Ellie started off, the sound of the metal doors closing behind her. The forest was dark, menacing, but she wasn’t afraid. She’d faced much more than just a forest at night. As far as the people in Jackson knew, no one was even out there. The only people out there in those woods were the bandits, but they never launched plans at night. As far as she was concerned, the woods were empty – they were hers. And that’s all she needed to clear her head and release her sharpening anger.

The snow below her sat at about two to three inches above the dirt and grass below. The rest of the icy little flakes floated overhead, landing on her shoulders and her hood, and even her backpack. The snow put Ellie at an undying peace. Although the winter season did sprout memories she’d rather never relive, the spirit of the wintertime always touched her deep down in her soul. The snowflakes, the chilliness, the warmness of her and Dina’s home…

The memory of Dina sleeping soundly beside her no more than an hour ago seeped into her mind, ringing throughout her whole body. Even though her legs were moving, treading deeper into tall, bare trees covered in white, her whole body wanted to stop and just think. Think of her beautiful face, her freckles, those perfect dark eyes, those lips she’s touched with her own more times than she could count now, her soft, pitch-black, curly hair that blended in with the shadows of their bedroom, her wonderful body wrapped around her. Everything about her was perfect to Ellie, and she couldn’t get enough of her.

Dina had never snapped at her like she did the night before. At the end of the day, the only reason she did was for Ellie’s own safety, and her concern for her well-being. Dina found the utmost amount of comfort knowing Ellie was safe and sound, and if she’d been hurt by someone else, she wanted to be the one to patch it and reassure her. Ellie couldn’t have been more grateful for her role in her life. Aside from Joel, she’d never had a warm, loving, protective presence, never once in her entire nineteen years of living. To know Dina cared that much meant everything to Ellie.

As she sank deeper into woods, just getting lost in them, her thoughts continued to sink with her. It was self-therapy sessions like those that would really help Ellie. Staying home and getting angry and feeling guilty and defensive never worked.

It occurred to her, maybe too late, that in that moment that Ellie was defending herself, it seemed like she didn’t care that Dina cared about her. She could only imagine what a blow that was on the shorter girl. 

She felt her entire body sag, but she continued to push on through the forest.

If the roles had been reversed, and Dina was defending herself during that argument, Ellie would’ve felt crushed. She would’ve felt meaningless and useless, and she would’ve thought Dina was selfish for only doing what she wanted. It was a painful thing to admit, but Ellie knew she was wrong. She wanted to feel in control, she wanted to feel like she had some kind of government over herself, but she realized that by doing the things she had been doing, it didn’t seem like she was doing anything good for herself. Not seeking help when she needed it, not getting her injuries patched up. They were different sides of the same coin, and in the heat of the moment, Ellie didn’t understand that. And she hated herself for it.

The voice of reason and the reality of what had happened finally began setting in on her. She knew she was wrong, and she was grateful for Dina’s concern and for caring about her. She did a shitty job at expressing it, but she truly was grateful. It pained her that she couldn’t wake Dina up with another kiss and tell her all of it.

By the time she snapped from her thoughts, she noticed the sun peeking through the trees. She’d been walking for miles, lost in thought, lost in the woods. She debated with herself whether or not she wanted to keep walking deeper, or head back in the direction she came, toward the mountain, toward Jackson, toward Dina, toward home.

Since she was definitely a few miles out, she turned to start heading back. Remembering suddenly her agreement with Tommy about the flares, she quickly set her backpack down in the snow that had started to glimmer in the sunrise light, and removed a green flare from one of the boxes. Setting the legs down, she ignited the flare quickly with a match, and stood back. There was no reason to cover her ears, as the flares were practically silent. She always found amusement in Dina doing it out of fear that it would set off like a firework. 

After a few seconds, the spark ran out, and there were no other sounds but the woods around. The flare didn’t go off. Finding it strange, Ellie ruled it to be a defective flare and reached into her bag to find another.

As if a bomb was thrown, the flare, which was still down on the ground, burst with sound equivalent to a gunshot. Ellie threw her arms over her head, but it had been one brief pop, and it was done. The noise it made echoed off the tall trees surrounding her. Crows flew from the treetops. 

Typical, she thought.

Ellie reached into her bag moments later and began to set up a second flare. When she reached back into her backpack to retrieve it, a searing pain began in the back of her shoulder. It struck her all at once, and before she could register anything that was happening, she was knocked to the floor by a giant boot. When she hit the floor on her palms and chest, she turned to see her attacker, she was met with the feathers of an arrow sticking out from her shoulder. Hovering over her was a huge, bald man, sporting many tattoos and scars. He wore a trench coat and carried a huge hammer-looking object around his body.

“You’re not too hard to find, huh?” His raspy, growling voice echoing through her skull. He reached down to pull her up by her shirt, and upon getting to her feet, she immediately broke free from his grip.

Within seconds she had pistol out of its holster and aimed in the air, but before she could do anything else another arrow buried itself into her, this time on her opposing arm. The wood tore right through her skin, a few inches deep, the feathers crazed and sticking out of the butt of the arrow in all directions. 

Crying out in pain and falling to her knees, Ellie grabbed her shoulder, but only for a second as she pointed her gun upwards and fired a shot into the abdomen of a young man emerging from the trees behind him. With a gurgle sound, he hit the snowy floor, staining the whiteness around him red.

Outraged, the giant man in front of her took a step closer to her and she fired a round into his abdomen, too. He paused for a second, but continued to walk. The bullet barely even pieced his heavy coat.

Ellie had been so startled and flustered by the sudden attack that she felt her limbs freeze and her whole body quake. The pain throbbed in her shoulders – it was excruciating. But she knew she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Suddenly, the big man charged at her, and she swiftly dodged him, turning with amazing speed and agility, and buried a round right in the back of his abdomen. He groaned in pain, but it wasn’t long before two more people, one girl with a bow, and a man with a pistol came from the trees behind her. 

Before she could react, yet another arrow flew and landed in her thigh. That was her point of collapse. She fell to one knee, reacting in pain, clutching it with a completely scrunched face. She wasn’t physically done fighting, even as another arrow lodged in her back.

In a fit of rage, she turned herself around, burying four pistol bullets in the woman firing the bow. One last arrow embedded in her abdomen, just centimeters away from an artery, as the woman fell to the floor, silently. The man beside her cried out in devastation. 

She quickly fired toward him, missing him by just inches and imbedding the bullet in a tree he ran behind. Seconds later, Ellie felt an intense pressure around her neck, and with a sound of surprise she was slammed down to the ground. A man had taken a rope around her neck and pulled her up and to the ground. She was able to break free from the rope, dropping to the ground and swinging her head to the side to avoid being recaptured.

Ellie made a break for the trees, barely able to walk. Any step she took was excruciating pain in her right leg. Once behind the tree, she leaned as far back as she could without pushing the arrows deeper into her back. Some of the wood had cracked in half upon entering her body, chopping the arrows in half. 

Gunshots rang throughout the forest as bullet after bullet imbedded into the trunk on the opposite side of her. The giant man, the man with the pistol, and the man with the rope had all been firing into and around the tree, giving Ellie no means of escape. For whatever reason, she noticed neither men had actually made an attempt to shoot her. 

As if they’d read her thoughts, three more people came out of the trees in front of her. They were closing in on her. While she turned frantically to aim her gun, rotating the gun to each individual as they walked close to her, the same man with the rope got her once again, making her fall to the floor on her hands and knees. As much as she struggled, she couldn’t find the physical strength to break free. She was full of arrows, the unforgiving wood piercing her skin and standing out, turning all of her movement to pain. 

“The beast is finally down,” the giant laughed, menacingly. It struck fear in Ellie, and she panted against the snow, defeated, like a wolf cornered and injured by hunters in the snowy forest. The rope was tight on her neck, she could feel it burning her skin like flames. All of the people crowding around her panted with equal fervor.

The man lifted her up by the rope around her neck, and once again, her instinct kicked in, and she grabbed and tugged at the rope, trying to give her neck even just a little more space. Meanwhile, the giant man got within inches of her face, smiling devilishly.

“Young, too,” he observed her body up and down. “You should serve as a good message to your people.”

With a whistle, the group began walking towards him as he turned and began walking away. The rope around her neck only got tighter as the man pulled her along. Her vision began to darken, the only thing she saw were the trees moving rapidly beside her, as she was getting pulled farther and farther away from her bag, the bodies, the trail back to Jackson.

Before she knew it, everyone came to a stop at a streetlight that had tilted over, in front of a small, snowy clearing. There was one person there, cloaked head to toe, and held a large cross. Dropping her to the ground, the man began fiddling with the rope. She felt it tightening around her neck, being fashioned into a noose. She felt the tugging as they rigged it up to the light. Another rope made its way tightly around her wrists, tying them together.

“We will take her down and toss her vain body back to the community she came from,” a deep voice announced to the rest of the group. “We will use her as our message. We will warn them, and we will use her life to do it.”

Suddenly, she was being lifted into the air. She felt the air being squeezed from her throat, and her whole body began to kick and pull and push and tug, trying to find her way down, hoping and praying to every possible God out there that something would give, and she would fall back down to the ground, and make a break for it.

“O great, forgiving Lord,” she heard through the ringing of her ears. The raspy voice she recognized to be the grueling man from earlier. “We bring thee a sacrifice – a young girl – we send her back to be with you, remove her from this unforgiving world. Please give her the peaceful afterlife you promise all who obey Him.”

The prayer, it seemed so tranquil, so comforting, so innocent and pure. But it wasn’t until the man pulled a large, sharp knife out of a holster on his back and hold it to her that she realized the irony of it all.

“O mighty God,” he continued. “Forgive us for our sins. Let us be with you, bring us to your light. Let our enemies fall in blood…” it was in that moment the prayer took a horrifying turn. “… Let those who disobey you, those who disbelieve in your light, o God, let those who continue to sin without repent rot in the depths of Hell, with the ungodly Lucifer himself. Let you judge this girl’s soul accordingly to your Holiness – she has done much wrong.” He paused, removing the knife from her and pacing away from her. “‘Thou shalt not kill’.” He turned back to her with wrath and hatred written across those dark, evil eyes. “She hath kill our brothers, your children, with her bare hands. She hath stole the lives of our beloved. She sleeps with the enemy – the evil ones – who betray thy light. Punish her as you will.”

Finally opening her eyes, fighting to see clearly. She made out the shapes of four individuals: the giant man, the man with the rope, the man with the pistol, and the cloaked figure bearing the large wooden cross. The others that had surrounded her were nowhere in sight. 

She still struggled against the rope, even when all of the people surrounding the giant man fell to their knees. The man who had carried her with the rope was the only one who didn’t fall. In fact, he stepped closer, what looked to be an old polaroid camera Joel had shown her years ago in his hands.

“Thank you, Goliath,” they all said in unison, looking up at Ellie with the most terrifyingly brainwashed, sickened, dead eyes. Their expressions were like those of corpses.

The giant man, who was now known to be called ‘Goliath’, took a few more steps forward, until he was in front of her again like he had been before. The blade of his long knife glowed in the ever-growing light. He held it out to her, the blade a solid few feet away from her abdomen.

“I, Goliath, Bringer of Justice, commend thee to death,” he paused. Knife extended, he began to take a small, frightening sentence with every end of each phrase. All of the people around him began chanting:

“Our Father, who art in heaven,  
hallowed be thy name.  
Thy kingdom come.   
Thy will be done  
on Earth as it is in Heaven.  
Give us this day, our daily bread,  
and forgive us our trespasses…”

As he neared closer and closer with his knife, Ellie began to struggle and jerk even more, pure panic and adrenaline setting in, as she watched the end of her life come closer to her with each step.

“… As we forgive those who trespass against us.  
And lead us not into temptation,  
But deliver us from evil.  
For thine is the kingdom,  
and the power, and the glory,  
for ever and ever…”

Pressing the knife against her toned skin, the man with the polaroid positioned beside her, pointing the camera right at the scene: Goliath with his knife pressed against her, Ellie struggling against the ropes. 

Smiling in the manner equivalent to the Devil himself, and the silence overtaking the entire group, Goliath finished his prayer, his eyes burning into hers.

“Amen.”

When the knife plunged into her gut, she saw the world go red for a moment, then dark, then red. She saw the flash of the polaroid, and then another when Goliath ripped the blade from out of her. Ellie opened her mouth to scream bloody murder, and as she did, another camera click sounded.

Blood poured from the open wound, and as she began to weaken, her screams grew more and more strained. Goliath neared again, this time rushing forward to bash his huge fist into Ellie’s upper body, connecting right with the undamaged rib area. The polaroid flashed again as Goliath’s fist made contact with her body.

She screamed again, her body going limp. Her mind was completely overrun with the pain, and nothing else. The pain is going to kill me, she thought. I can’t hold out like this, I just can’t.

The knife was back at her belly, and pressing against the stab wound, Ellie felt the blade readied against the skin, and in the most excruciating pain she’d ever felt, she felt the knife beginning to drag through her skin. Another click of the polaroid, but as he furthered the steel across her stomach, the entire ground shifted below her, and suddenly Goliath was backing up and she was falling forward and the ground was getting closer, and just like that, she was on the floor. Face-first in the snow and dirt, blood falling from her nose as it collided with the ground. Blood also formed at her lip, as her teeth left a sharp indent in the side of her lip.

The noose had been loose around her neck, holding her up in the air while still keeping her alive. With the rope off, she tried to reach for her completely burned neck, but her hands were stuck behind her back. Contorting her wrists and arms, she successfully wiggled through the poorly tied rope holding her hands in place. With a choking gasp, her free hands automatically flew to her throat, which was rough and scarred from the edges of the nylon.

Turning her head to see what had happened, she realized the post had completely fallen over, crushing the cloaked figure with its immense size. She barely had time to register another detail when Goliath’s boot connected with the side of her face, knocking the wind out of her with a sound of surprise. 

It took her a few seconds to recuperate. Goliath began stepping over to her slowly. Reaching back to take the knife hidden in a holster on her belt, she was able to pull it out in time to bury it in his thigh.

Yelling in pain, he gripped his leg, unable to focus on anything but the pain for a few moments. Reaching over to the crushed cloaked corpse beside her, she pulled up the cloaks to reveal a large man in full-bodied clothing like Goliath, a pistol safely tucked away in his belt. She ripped it from him, turning the gun on the giant man, yelling in pain in front of her.

Hearing the cocking of another gun behind him, she realized just in time that the man with the polaroid had pulled out a rifle, and relentlessly, she struck him right in the face with two pistol rounds. He collapsed wordlessly, hitting the floor with a thump, and, much like back at the ambush spot, he joined his friend in staining the snowy floor a sickening red color.

Ellie, still on her bottom, pointed the gun up at the head of a recovering Goliath. When he realized that she had him stuck, he stopped screaming and just looked at her with interest and defeat.

“What a shame,” he rasped. “Your organs would’ve made for such a good sacrifice to Him.”

Ellie was shaking, her whole body trembling in absolute terror and trauma. “Good sacrifice?” Her voice shook, as well as the gun in her hand as she kept it pointed right between his eyes. “I’ll see you in Hell, buddy boy.”

With the punctuation of her sentence, she fired three rounds into the giant’s head. With a wheezing exhale, his eyes rolled back into his head, and Ellie watched as his body went limp, gravity pulling his body forward. 

When his lifeless corpse hit the ground with a thud, and silence fell over her, she opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs. Tears escaped her eyes, one at a time, pouring out endlessly. She slowly sat forward, still screaming and sobbing, her hand placing itself over her searing abdomen wound, that had poured out so much blood she couldn’t believe she was even still conscious.

Realizing the dead bodies encircled around her, she knew she had to get away as fast as possible. Wiping her eyes, the sobs still escaping through her mouth, she used every ounce of physical strength left in her weakened, battered body to push herself to her feet. The arrows still stuck out of her skin. Reaching down as slowly as she could, she picked up a bag that the man taking pictures had around him. Inside was more nylon rope, water bottles, a few small bags of food, extra ammo for his pistol, iodine, a towel, and the photographs he’d taken. Not even bothering to take them out, she limped off of the bloody scene before her, holding the backpack with her good arm, her other arm grasping her terrible wound.

Once she reached a far enough area, blocked off by boulders and snow heaps, she took the towel out and pressed hard against the open wound across her abdomen. The stab wound was deep, but the rest of the laceration had just barely touched upon tissue. Eventually, with a solid amount of hard pressure, the wound began to slow its blood flow. She continued to walk on, towel against her abdomen.

How was she going to get back? She had no idea. Her hunting backpack had been back at the site where she was ambushed, and she saw that as the only way of finding Jackson again. Slowly, carefully, she made her way towards the trail of heavy footprints, tossed snow, and light blood.

In a few hours of painful stumbling, she was able to reach the spot where a few dead bodies were littered, where her backpack had once been, but had completely vanished. The only evidence of where it had been left was the ash of the exploded flare, and the heavy indent it left in the snow. 

It was then that she spotted, only a few meters away, horse tracks. Her blood ignited, the adrenaline resurfacing in her body as she realized: They’d come looking for her. They must have recovered her backpack, and taken it back to Jackson. Hope was restored in her traumatized mind. The horse tracks had went off in the opposite direction, as the patrol sent out for her must’ve missed the boot tracks in the snow, as there were other tracks leading off in different directions from the multiple people who ambushed her. Not to mention, the light snowfall had done a good job of hiding a lot of the marks in the patted snow underneath her feet. Thanks to the weight of her backpack and the horses, the tracks had been much deeper into the snow, allowing them to be far more visible than shoe marks created hours beforehand. Sweat pooled at her forehead at the realization that Jackson was just that way.

It was already sunset by the time Ellie started back her many miles of journey back to Jackson. Who knew how long it would take? Would she get ambushed again? Every movement in the forest generated a reaction from the girl. Whether it was a flinch or a jump or a twitch, she found herself constantly looking behind her.

In a flash, the memories of Dina and their fight smacked her across the face. That beautiful girl – she probably realized Ellie was gone by now. Word had probably gotten back to the community that something terrible happened to her. She could just see the heartbreaking image of the girl’s devastated face. What if Dina had been on the patrol that found the bodies and her bag? What if she was on a different one?

Her mind got lost in thought again, just as it had when she entered the woods in the first place. Despite her mindlessness, she followed the horse tracks, and they led her straight to what looked like a wall in the sunset light. Upon reaching it, she realized she had found a small abandoned cabin. The patrolmen had probably searched it when looking for her, which explained why the horse’s tracks veered off course. 

The entire building smelled of musty coal and old rags. It was three small rooms, a kitchen and lounge combined into one, and a bedroom with a connected bathroom off through a door in the lounge. When entering, she was met with a quaint little kitchen, that, past the small table, were two loveseats with a coffee table and fireplace. The bedroom was small, one window with a dead plant sitting in the windowsill.

She was absolutely terrified to fall asleep in the cabin. As secluded it was by trees, she was far too afraid that someone would track her straight to it. Maybe the group would. The night would be cold, dark, and brutal. Her chances of survival by braving the snowy winds of the freezing night would definitely slip to a dangerously low number. She didn’t have much of a choice.

There was a lock on the inside of the door, which gave her some sense of relief. Her pessimism and fear rebutted against her relief, as she thought of all the ways those monstrous individuals could break through the lock in seconds. The windows were all shut, and besides the bedroom one, she examined them and realized that they weren’t possible to open.

She set the bag down on the table, and sat her tired self down on the couch. She realized she wouldn’t be able to do anything without removing the arrows from her back. Reaching back and bracing herself, Ellie bit down on an old pillow as she used her force to rip the broken arrows from out of her back. It was a splitting pain taking them out, but she was able to carefully lay back against the couch, overwhelming relief pouring over her like a waterfall when she realized the pain wasn’t even close to what it felt like with those arrows lodged in her skin. The cold had frozen the blood around it, and she pressed her back hard against the cushions. She didn’t even attempt to remove all of the other three arrows that had been implanted in her front area, as she knew that she’d endured the absolute maximum amount of pain she could take for the day. Never in all her life had she ever been in so much immeasurable pain. She forced herself to swallow it.

Taking out one of the bags of food – which turned out to be a combined mix of different kinds of nuts – she downed it hungrily, along with an entire bottle of water. She gripped the edge of the table and hovered over in a limp. Removing the bottle from her lips and taking a deep, relieved exhale, she moved over to the sink in the kitchen which, to her surprise, worked. Using that to her advantage, she refilled the water bottle, and drank from it again.

In the bathroom, she quickly relieved herself, and in the mirror above the sink, she was able to see for the first time since Jackson what she looked like. Hair completely tossed, face completely covered in grime and dirt, dried blood and bruises. That was definitely not what she’d expected to see in the mirror she looked into after seeing herself completely normal in the mirror back in her home in Jackson.

She couldn’t take any more, she had to lay down. Slowly bringing herself down into the covers – having to convince herself she was safe before she did – she laid down for the first time in what felt like centuries. The world was quiet around her, the wintery breeze hitting the hardwood outside. 

As she began to drift off into slumber, she reached out next to her for what she’d hoped in every fiber of her mind would be Dina next to her. She wanted nothing more than for all of this to be a horrible nightmare, and she would find herself waking up next to her girlfriend in their bed, in their home, in their community. Drowsily, she left her hand there, hoping and praying that Dina would appear and promise that she was safe, and hold her, and cry into her, and console her, and just hold her hand. She hoped, that just leaving her hand there, Dina would take it.

She never did.

•••

Nightfall began to rise in Jackson, and through the windows of the clinic, Dina could see the stars poking out one by one.

She hadn’t heard a single word about Ellie or her status since that morning. 

All day she couldn’t bring herself to eat, drink, do anything. Her stomach was in knots all day, she physically could not bring herself to put anything in it. All day her coworkers and volunteers at the clinic all did what they could to give her space, but console her simultaneously. In a way, it worked because even a few seconds of laughter or smiling brought her an ease that she very much needed.

“Hey, Dina,” the friendly, soft voice of her boss, Mrs. Hennings, sounded from behind her, prompting her to turn around.

“Hi, Mrs. Hennings,” she said in a way that was next to monotone.

Outstretching her arms suddenly and walking forward to take her into them, the older lady held her close to her chest. Dina was taken completely off-guard by it, but it was one of the most relieving feelings at the moment. She wrapped her arms around the tall woman’s waist and just let the warmth of someone else enclose her.

Keeping her hands on Dina’s shoulders, Mrs. Hennings pulled away, looking the younger girl honestly in the eyes. “You’ve had a rough day, huh?” She smiled in the most heartbreaking way, a slight tilt of her head, and, what was shocking, were the tears forming at her eyes.

“Like you couldn’t believe,” Dina admitted with a sigh.

“Oh, no, darling, I could believe it.”

Dina simply gave her a confused look, eyes narrowed.

Mrs. Hennings sighed. “About eleven years ago, I lost my husband to a raid once.” She confessed, rendering her completely silent. “He went out with one other person. This was in the woods, out in Montana. Some crazy bastards jumped them and they never came back. I waited for weeks to see my husband return. I couldn’t focus at work, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep… Their bodies, or what was left of them, turned up at the side of the river two miles down from out settlement three weeks later.” She looked to the floor with a sigh. “All that time, everyone knew what had happened. Before they found him, they all knew how worried sick I was.” Upturning her head, she looked at Dina’s eyes in the most heartbreakingly empathetic way she’s ever been looked at. “I only wished my boss would just let me go home sometimes.”

Dina tilted her head in confusion. “W-What are you saying, I…”

“I’m saying,” she cut her off. “Go home, get some rest. Do some reflecting, maybe meditate, whatever helps you. And just pray she comes home, alright?”

The relief hit her all at once. Tears pushed past her eyelids and rolled down her face. “Thank you, Mrs. Hennings, thank you.” She sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “Thank you so much.”

The older lady just continued to watch her with a sorrowful expression on her face. “Go, now, child. Be with her in spirit. I have faith that girl’s alive. It’s Ellie for God’s sakes.”

“So do I,” Dina sniffed, grabbing her things and practically running out of the building.

In a few minutes, she was home, and the house was empty as that morning. The darkness threatened to crawl up her back and under her skin. She barely had any time to properly do a routine. She just needed to get in bed.

Without eating, Dina dropped all of her stuff and headed straight for the bedroom. She needed to lay down and rest her head. The day had been too taxing on her mentally and emotionally for her to retain any kind of normality whatsoever. And without Ellie, there was no normal.

Burying herself deep within the covers, she removed Ellie’s flannel from the end of the bed, putting it to her face like she had that same morning. It smelled like her – it was the most comforting smell Dina had ever smelt before.

With the flannel pressed to her nose, and her mind focused on the face of the beautiful red-haired girl she missed so much, it wasn’t long until she eventually drifted off into sleep.

It was like she closed her eyes and opened them and it was the next day. She remembered nothing from overnight, but when she noticed how misplaced the covers were, she figured her sleep was anything but peaceful.

She sat up in her bed, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Her mind fell back down as she peered over her shoulder at the empty spot next to her. She missed Ellie more than she’d ever missed anyone in her life. The fact that she wasn’t there, and that Dina had no idea where she was at all terrified her.

The clock read about 7:05am, the sunrise just beginning to peek through the windows, lighting the world up in an orangey light.

And as she headed downstairs, flannel on her arm, she heard the most blood-chilling scream near closer and closer to the house.

“Dina!”

Immediately, her head spun toward the direction of the door.

“Dina!”

All of her adrenaline built up and her legs practically moved on their own. She raced for the door, unlocking it and throwing it open.

“Dina!” She saw the face of a young boy from the gate, named Justen, come sprinting toward her. He was a little blonde boy, about fifteen years old. They met once when Dina took care of him in the clinic after he suffered an accident at the gate.

“Justen?” She asked, wiping one of her eyes with her palm. “What’s going on?”

He skidded to a halt upon reaching Dina’s door. “The gate… you have to come to the gate, right now!”

“Why? What the hell is happening?” She demanded in a contradicting, flustered voice.

“Please,” he begged. “Just come with me right now.” He turned to start running and Dina, who had her shoes on previously as she’d got them on before Justen came screaming, followed as quickly as she could, right behind him.

They reached the Jackson gates in record time, and what she saw before her completely winded her.

The gates were wide open, an entire crowd of soldiers, patrolmen, gatekeepers all hovering and scrambling in panic and disbelief.

Then, she saw them.

Coming through the gates were two soldiers, between them a body, an arm over each of their shoulders. In their arms, secured to them, was Ellie.

Dina nearly fainted.

Ellie had multiple arrows sticking out of her. Her clothes were soaked with blood from all over her body. She couldn’t walk, and she was barely even conscious. Her face was dirtied with earth, the entire side of her face, including her eye, green and purple and swollen. Dried blood was stuck to her nose and lips.

“Ellie!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing people out of the way as she raced forward to the two guards. They tried to give her to Dina easily, but the sudden shift in weight prompted Dina to falter slightly, holding the limp girl in her arms and crying into her coat. She screamed and sobbed, holding onto her girlfriend with her arms under her armpits, Ellie’s limp head resting against Dina’s shoulder. 

Tommy came rushing up with a stretcher bed, and Dina, focusing now only on saving Ellie, quickly and as gently as she could, set her down on the stretcher and let Tommy roll her all the way to the clinic, running on foot as he pushed her, with Dina right beside him.

They reached the clinic in record time, bursting through the door with Ellie’s limp, damaged body jerking with each bump the stretcher bed hit. The nurses wasted no time, leading her to a room. Once Dina got into the room, she took the coat off the hanger, the gloves from the box and slipped them on, and crying through her goggles and face mask. She knew Ellie would have to go into immediate operation.

Mrs. Hennings stepped in, her gear and table full of instruments and stitches being pulled close behind her. She set it up, put her gloves on, and instantly got to work.

Even through the operation, Dina wished that Ellie would just wake up. Just so Dina knew she was alive. Regardless of the fact that Ellie was hooked up to old school monitors and machines, and it was calculating her pulse and blood pressure on a fancy old computer, Dina just wanted those beautiful green eyes to open. She wanted to see them. She wanted to hear Ellie’s voice and see her smile. The entire time she was hoping for that.

It never happened.

•••

The light blinded her when her eyes opened. Everything hurt.

Ellie barely remembered anything. One moment, she was waking up in the cabin. The next, she’s pushing through the snow and forest. The next, she’s on the ground. The next, she’s in the arms of two men, and here she was now, waking up in a bed, surrounded by IV tubes, tools, and old-timey monitors. 

Just moving her arm gave her a spike of pain that she didn’t much care for. So, she decided to stay put for a while. There was something very familiar about the room she was in – the white walls that were slowly chipping away, the glass entryway, the blue and green spotted curtain…

Suddenly, a familiar face stepped in the room. The head nurse, Mrs. Hennings, moved the curtain aside. Ellie’s stunned face seemed to amuse her.

“Well, good morning, love,” she greeted sweetly, as if it were completely normal.

Ellie hesitated. “Good morning…”

A low giggle rumbled from the older woman’s throat. “You’ve had a busy couple of days, haven’t you, dear?”

Remembering everything that happened, she nodded with an exhausted sigh.

“Am I at the clinic?” Ellie asked suddenly.

“Indeed you are.”

“In… Jackson?” She asked stupidly, clarifying.

Mrs. Hennings chuckled wholeheartedly. “Yes, darling,” she turned to her clipboard and began writing things down. “You’re still a little woozy from the drugs we gave you. Don’t be frustrated if you don’t remember certain things or you can’t put together two and two. It’ll wear off, I promise you.”

Ellie nodded in understanding. She’d already noticed it.

“Well, my dear, you seem to be doing just fine. Dina will be with you shortly,” she said with finality, starting for the door.

Ellie’s heart dropped. “Wa-Wait… Dina’s… she’s here?”

Mrs. Hennings nodded. “She, I, and a few other nurses conducted your procedures. Dina hasn’t left this building in nearly two days. She’s been waiting for you to wake up.”

“Are you serious?” Ellie gaped in disbelief.

“I wish I wasn’t, darling,” she sighed through a smile. “She’ll be in here very shortly, I can tell you that.”

As she walked out, Ellie examined herself. Parting the buttons on her gown, she saw that there were no arrows anywhere to be found. Every hole and every cut was neatly stitched up, covered in gauze pads and sterile dressings. She felt up her face, which was no longer swollen, but pressing down on it set her nerves aflame, as the bruising was still pretty bad there. Her ribs were killing her, too.

Just as Hennings had promised, it took more than seconds for Ellie to hear the quick footsteps making their way towards her room. When the curtains parted, it was Dina, like a deer in headlights, standing there.

All Ellie could do was just smile as sweetly as she could to her.

Racing forward, Dina carefully wrapped her arms around Ellie’s head, sobbing into her hair. Her warm fingers sent electricity throughout her body. The first touch with her since the entire situation happened was completely enriching. She craved Dina’s touch.

“Ellie, oh my God…” she whispered through a sob into her auburn hair. Ellie slowly and carefully wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist. “Oh, my God, you’re alive… Oh, my poor, sweet baby,” she let go quickly, taking her cheeks into her hands. “My girl…” she frantically moved her hanging strands of her overly messy hair out of the way. “I was so worried about you.” She said, looking into Ellie’s eyes, the tears raining from hers. Dina fixed her clothes by smoothing out the wrinkled chest area, almost compulsively.

“I’m so sorry…” was the only thing Ellie could whisper to her.

“No, no, no,” Dina shut her up immediately by grabbing her head again and pressing it to her chest. “No, Ellie, don’t be sorry. I should be sorry.”

Ellie shushed her, hugging her tighter. 

“How are you? How’s your pain?” Dina asked, her eyes and voice full to the brim with worry. “Are you okay?”

“It’s painful,” Ellie admitted. “But you saved me. You literally saved me, Dina.”

Wiping her eyes, she chuckled through her tears. “Oh, stop, I didn’t.”

“You performed on me, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but…” she tried to protest, but failed.

“Exactly.”

Silence fell over them. Dina pulled the seat against the wall up next to her bed. She let her head rest against the blankets.

“I heard you haven’t gotten much sleep lately,” Ellie teased.

Dina scoffed, smiling. “Oh, God, no.” Her eyes remained closed. “I haven’t slept since you left.”

Ellie sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Reaching up to hit her playfully, she stopped herself. “Don’t be sorry, Ellie.” She paused, but finished her sentence saying: “I’m just so glad you’re alive.”

“Me, too,” she admitted. “Didn’t think I would be.” Ellie’s hand reached down to play with strands of jet-black hair that had fallen out of the bun. Dina’s eyes closed again.

“God, I fucking missed you,” Dina whispered into Ellie’s lap. 

“I missed you, too, D. Thank you for saving me.”

Dina rolled her eyes. “I didn’t.” The voice was weak.

Ellie had started off explaining why she had been so upset two nights prior, and what she’d realized – about how she wasn’t right and she was selfish. But when she looked down, Dina was fast asleep, head on Ellie’s good thigh, and she began to snore just slightly.

Leaning back in relief, shifting her entire body, Ellie stared at the ceiling. She was so thankful for everything – for her life, for Jackson, for Dina. It finally hit her that she was home, and she was safe, and she was okay. 

Reaching her hand out towards Dina, she opted not to take her hand just out of fear of waking the sleep-deprived girl up. So, instead, she rested it gently beside her. Part of her hoped Dina would wake up and take it, and just hold it throughout their whole nap. She wanted to tangle her fingers into those fragile ones, wanted to hold her and feel the warmth of her palm radiating against hers. She wanted it more than anything, so she left her hand out, hoping Dina would catch on.

Dina must’ve woken up from something because before Ellie had time to even think, Dina was scooting her chair closer to Ellie, leaning back over and resting her head.

This time, Dina took her hand and squeezed as hard as she could, before letting herself lull back into sleep.

She always took her hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
This is another of the Tumblr requests I received for these two.  
I went absolutely all out for this request – I spent several days writing this! 
> 
> My tumblr handle is @lmontyy, and I take any and all requests, (so long as they're not unreasonable or crazy!) but I'm very easygoing when it comes to writing, and do enjoy writing for others.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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